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ESRB says 'konnichiwa' to My Japanese Coach
Following the listing that was found on Gamefly, the ESRB has revealed the above listing for My Japanese Coach, yet another language coaching title. Searching for My Chinese Coach comes up empty, but at least we can all be pretty certain that My Japanese Coach will be releasing to North America. We're totally expecting to hear about it next week at E3.
English of the Dead teaches Japanese to the living
As if the English of the Dead game itself wasn't appealing enough, those with a mind to learn the language of the Land of the Rising Fun can make strides with Sega's DS title. It may not be as full-fledged as a product aimed specifically at teaching English-language natives the language of Japanese, but it's surprisingly useful.You see, there's this mini-game included with the title that has zombies running about, with English words above their heads. You, the backpack-wearing son-of-a-gun, are then presented with three different words in kanji, one of which matches the English word. Pretty neat, huh?%Gallery-19510%
Japanese English trainer offers up real scholarship money
This is one of the better promotions we've ever heard about. DS title Moe Sta is a game geared toward the folks that can't speak English, but want to. It teaches, and it's in that spirit that the developers of the title, Mirai Shonen, are going to hook up two lucky students with some education assistance.If you use the title to learn English and pass the Tokyo University entrance exam, they'll hook you up with ¥500,000 (US$4,600) to go towards your education. While that may not be much to most of you, it might as well be a mountain of gold to college students. See also: DS takes Kyoto, education style[Via Kotaku]
An Introduction to Apple Certification
I spent three days in a class last week learning about Leopard. It probably sounds a little strange that a guy who works day in and day out on "nothin' but Macs" would be taking a class to learn more about the Mac operating system, but I did it for a reason - I am an Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) and I need to keep my certification current. Within a few weeks, I'll be taking a certification exam to prove that my brain absorbed some of the course content and my years of Mac experience really have turned me into a Mac guru.Not many people know about the certifications available to Apple professionals. Certification has a number of benefits to independent consultants and wage slaves alike, including recognition of professional competency, credibility with clients and employers, and the ability to publicize your certifications on Apple's website. For those of us who are Apple Consultant Network members, we can have clients referred to us by the Apple Stores.Over the next few weeks, I'll post several articles about the different types of certifications available to you, how to become certified, and why you might want to consider getting certified. Read more after the break.
DS doubles up as notebook for Wii kanji trainer
Anybody who has attempted to learn how to correctly write kanji will know that the process involves a bewildering number of rules. Memorizing rules is stressful enough, but practicing your kanji skills with a Wii Remote would surely only make the experience more frustrating.This meant that IE Institute faced a potential dilemma when developing its Wii-bound kanji trainer, 250 Mannin no Kanken Wii de Tokoton Kanji Nou, yet the developer found a graceful, elegant solution: throw in a spot of DS-Wii connectivity, and let users input kanji characters on the DS's touchscreen, which is perfect for handwriting (as other games have already ably demonstrated). There's been nowhere enough DS-Wii connectivity for our liking, yet this is easily one of the better uses of the feature to date.
Barrens Chat: On the bandwagon, and off the rocker
I would like to begin by pointing out that this comic was not actually thought of by me. Interpreted, drawn, and displayed by me, yes; but the real mind behind this comic is the same on that brought you the deep and insightful explanation on Engineering (which he also had me draw), Brian Karasek.Brian has been a friend of mine, and my S.O., for well over five years now. We've stalked followed him through three different games, and ended up following him into World of Warcraft after the two of us were convinced we'd never be seeing him again. Luckily, we were wrong. Brian is a truly wonderful friend, and I am grateful to have him. Now that the obligatory brown-nosing is out of the way, I would like my birthday present now, please!For those of you who don't know (likely 99.8% of you I'd assume) my birthday is tomorrow, June 6th. I expect lots of lovely supportive comments for this comic, as well as large, unsolicited donations of money from you all, thank you (Just kidding... no really). %Gallery-22361%
WoW Rookie: Mad weapon skillz
WoW Rookie is brought to our readers to help our newest players get acclimated to the game. Make sure you send a note to WoW Insider if you have suggestions for what new players need to know. One of my favorite things about World of Warcraft is the wide variety of sharp, pointy objects and projectiles at my disposal for beating on my foes (and occasionally my friends). At times I find myself overwhelmed by the number of options for each class, and I've always wanted a handy guide to what I can use and where to get it. Since I couldn't find such a guide, I've decided to create one. Hopefully you will all find it useful also.
Mudkips not included
What do you get when you cross Pokémon with the Chinese literary classic 'Journey to the West' ? This hybrid is Pocketpet Journey West, a quirky little title that could only come from Asia. The game is being developed by Perfect World, whose focus is on the Chinese online gaming market, although they've licensed their games to operators in ten other countries so far. No definitive announcement has been made as to whether Pocketpet Journey West is coming to North American or European markets, but Perfect World stated their intent to bring more of their titles to overseas markets. Pocketpet Journey West is a game almost entirely based around pets. Players can capture and tame monsters, boost their pet's attributes, and trade those pets with other players. Perhaps the oddest feature of the pet system is that two pets can be merged into one, with customized or enhanced abilities. When a player isn't gene-splicing their beloved little (and not-so-little) companions, they can take to the skies and cloud surf. Sounds like a wonderfully bizarre title, and one that Massively will keep an eye on in the future. If they do have a release outside of China, Pocketpet Journey West might be the answer to at least one Massively writer's hopes for an MMO sugar fix.
Games that could be MMOs: Pokmon
The Pokémon brand is one of the largest and most successful franchises the gaming world has ever spawned. There are no less than 10 videogames, 1 trading card game, 12 movies, an animated series, 10 soundtrack CDs, a bunch of manga -- but no official MMO.Why this hasn't already happened is beyond the imagination of this blogger. C'mon, a world in which thousands, if not millions of wanna-be Pokémon trainers are working hard to be number one, constantly pitting their captive critters against each other, and every iteration of the game franchise is only one-on-one? This isn't rocket science; it's not even science fair volcano science. But if we were to imagine a Pokémon MMO, it would look something like this:
Insider Trader: Jewelcrafting, the final stretch part 2
Last week, Insider Trader began the journey from 300 to 375 jewelcrafting skill. While we were able to avoid using recipes that required faction reputation or that had to be farmed, the cheapest methods to 375 from about 365 may require a bit more effort to obtain. If you are like so many other craftsmen, stuck with 375 seeming far away and expensive, then carry on through the break to examine ways to not only maximize your skills, but to attempt to make a profit while doing so, rather than running on a loss. Featuring several distinct ways to reach 375, you will find that you have many choices to suit your own needs, your guild's needs, and your server's market. In addition, I've put together some links for further reading that you should find helpful. Each week, Insider Trader takes you behind the scenes of the bustling sub-culture of professional craftsmen, examining the profitable, the tragically lacking, and the methods behind the madness. For more guides to maximizing your chosen profession, check out the final stretches for Leatherworkers and Alchemists alike, as well as part one of Jewelcrafting's final stretch. For a complete list of profession guides, feel free to peruse our directory.
Pay only $16.99 for some word ability (word smarts)
Didn't you hear? Simple-minded conversations are so 2007. If you want any respect from your peers (or the streets), you'll need to burst into flowery prose whenever the situation requires. Nowadays, girls won't even look at you if you introduce yourself with anything but a grandiloquent line. Step your vocab game up, kids.Luckily for you, Amazon has just the thing to help you compete with the single sesquipedalians out there, and they've got it for cheap, too! All day today, the online retailer is selling My Word Coach, Ubisoft's vocabulary-training software, for only $16.99, almost half of its regular $29.99 price. Pick it up while you can, because it's not like you can rely on your good looks forever. See also: Promotional Consideration: It pays to have word ability (word smarts)[Via CAG]
Promotional Consideration: Having word ability continues to pay
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out. In last week's edition of Promotional Consideration, we snickered over Ubisoft's scandalous My Word Coach ad, reveling in the juvenility of its baseball/sex metaphor. Imagine our surprise and mirth when we stumbled upon another printed piece promoting the vocabulary trainer, this time targeted at women! While not even half as bawdy as its brother, nor as clever, this advertisement still has some qualities worth examining.
Promotional Consideration: It pays to have word ability (word smarts)
var digg_url='http://digg.com/gaming_news/Practice_vocabulary_get_lucky_according_to_this_ad'; Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.While we've exposed you to sexually-charged promotional materials in the past, much to the disapproval of your uptight parents, the last game we ever expected to feature for its immodest advertising was My Word Coach, a vocabulary trainer due for the DS and Wii this November 6th. Read on for the titillating piece and our analysis on how Ubisoft put together one of the most salacious ads to appear in Nintendo Power in recent memory without baring a single inch of skin.
Tascam MP-GT1 DAP touts guitar input for gnarly play-alongs
Tiger Electronics' Power Tour instructional guitar is weak sauce compared to what TEAC's latest training tool can accomplish, as the Tascam-branded MP-GT1 offers up a whole lot more than just MP3 playback. Aside from boasting a monochrome 128 x 64 resolution screen, 1GB of internal storage, a rechargeable Li-ion lasting around eight hours, and MP3 / ID3 tag support, this pocket-friendly DAP also touts a line-in for your axe, built-in tuner / metronome, and a bevy of sweet controls as well. Users can queue up their favorite track, plug in their guitar, and begin to shred away while attempting to follow along, but for the more creative out there, this little box also features ten different effects to modify the sound of your instrument. To top things off, an internal algorithm sniffs out the guitar frequencies in whatever track you're listening to, and if you switch on the VSA function, it mutes (as best it can, we presume) the recorded guitar track so the only six-string you hear twanging is your own. TEAC's latest toy for guitar freaks should be landing in Japanese shops the last day of this month, and at just ¥20,000 ($166), we're deeming this a surefire bargain.
Arithmetic trainer for the mathematically challenged
Japanese folk, both young and old, who lack the foundations of a healthy mathematics knowledge may partake in rigorous exercises allowing one to confront their demons (with impeccable Algebra skills) and, ultimately defeat them with math skills of their own. It's a war where the sevens eat nines (ynuck ynuck) ...With various schools of math being present, the game looks like (and we're going on Google translation here) it takes you through all of math's different problems such as subtraction and division, progressing on to more difficult exercises as the player solves them.
A DS game for the emotional
Known as EQ Trainer (through Google translation), the game's goal is not to measure how smart you are, but to measure your emotions and how you feel. How does the game measure your emotions, you ask? Well, apparently there are 3 game modes by which this is done. Solving problems is one method, with another, loosely-translated explanation for the second being "[the player] can forge four fields such as identifying and understanding the feeling respectively." The third way seems to be a kind of progressive chart, which has measured, and will measure, all of your emotions and forms a consistent reading.A quirky title, but for such a dynamic platform as the DS, as well as previous titles taking full advantage of the system to offer non-conventional games, are we that surprised to see something of this nature crop up? Honestly, no, and for us here at DS Fanboy, we're kind of peeved we do not know Japanese and the odds of this title being localized are so slim as to be invisible.[Via Go Nintendo]
